Small Shop Tour [Archive] - Sawmill Creek Woodworking Community

Pete Brown

04-04-2007, 10:14 PM

Thought I'd post a small shop tour and a couple recent gloats for which I previously failed to include pictures :)

This is my shop. It is a shed built by the previous owners. The floor is poured concrete, which is nice. I had 100amps of service ran out there and wired it up with a crazy number of circuits. Behind the shed is an overhang with the wheelbarrows, snowblower, lawn mower etc.

The shed size is 11x15, uninsulated and just barely weather tight. It is a bit better inside since I put up plywood sheathing, but there is no good way to insulate the ceiling without putting in roof and soffit vents, so I left the whole thing uninsulated. This photo was taken a while back, before I put a small AC unit in the window.

For jointing and planing longer boards, I open the door and use the outside as the outfeed. I have no such luxury on the tablesaw - 6' is my limit. That causes me to have to artifically break up the face frame on the pantry cabinet in my kitchen project, but it's a limitation I live with for now. (The windows on either end of the shed don't line up anywhere close enough to the saw blade path to allow me to use them for extra infeed-outfeed space)

61747

This is an accomodation I made for my Incra fence. The box extends out the back of the shed and covers the majority of my rips. If I want to extend it full length, I have a sprung door (uses screen door hinges) which is opened by the end of the fence arm

61748

This is a high level and slightly blurry shot taken from one corner by holding the camera above my head and against the wall behind me. I currently have no real storage to speak of, and am not allowed to build any until I finish the home renovation :)

61749

This is the low stand I built for my DW735. The stand height is not at all convenient, but it keeps the 735 below infeed and outfeed height on my bandsaw and tablesaw. The roll of plastic wrap is what I use to seal finish-planed boards if I won't get to joinery for a little bit.

61750

Here's the fine dust collection. This is typically off unless I am doing any sanding. Of course, I never noticed that I had one of the filters in backwards - I think the camera gremlins did something funny there :)

61751

(more to come)

Pete Brown

04-04-2007, 10:24 PM

One of the best things I ever did in here was order and install the Super Dust Gorilla. I still haven't installed permanent ductwork, but this is working ok for now. My quality of life went way up when I installed this guy. I also managed to install it by myself, but what a back-breaker that was!

61754

This is my MM16 bandsaw. My bandsaw, tablesaw and jointer all get covered with tool covers when not in use. I live in the woods, and since this shop is not really conditioned, rust is a real problem. These covers really help. The MM16 saw a ton of usage resawing all the wood for the cabinet projects. The wood was only available in 2-3" thicknesses - nice for some things, but not for cabinets.

61755

My stack of Festool seems to keep growing. Just this week it gained two systainers and the vac. I have to say that that vac is HUGE. It's also extremely quiet. Very nice.

61756

Here's the domino (and a test joint) along with my TS 55 and MFT 1080. They are right up against the outfeed side of the table saw. One note about the Domino: I couldn't believe how much heaver it was vs my porter-cable biscuit joiner. The Domino is solid, sturdy and a pleasure to use so far. Lots of other folks are talking about that, though, so I'll only say more once I finally complete something using it :)

61757

And here is the Jet spindle sander I just finally set up tonight (photo is before the cleanup). You can see that with this small a space, my tablesaw ends up being a universal work space. I put a whiteboard over the top and use it for glue-ups as well as general work like this. That really does constrain you to done thing at a time, though.

61758

My Delta miter saw sits on my patio, under my covered deck. I have sawhorses there set up for cutting up sheet goods as well (I use the TS55 for that). Inside my house, waiting for a nice home is my old small Delta drill press and my Jet disc sander. Both were early tool purchases and used pretty extensively before I upgraded the shed. Once I get some more storage in there, I can move them back in and use them.

That's the shop :)

Pete Brown

04-04-2007, 10:26 PM

BTW, one other problem with the lack of storage is how any flat surface (top of planer, table of mortiser) that doesn't see use for a day or so suddenly seems to collect a ton of debris :)

Rob Wright

04-04-2007, 10:27 PM

Pete,

That is a lot of tools packed into a small place! Looking at your setup, I know that my shop will be able to fit in an 18x24 space. Is your cnc mill in your house? My 735 is on a low stand like yours, and end up suing it as an outfeed support for my TS. Oh - Ialways end up moving my tools more than I do using them! I seem to place all of my material and tools on my other tools!
-Rob

Pete Brown

04-04-2007, 10:30 PM

Pete,

That is a lot of tools packed into a small place! Looking at your setup, I know that my shop will be able to fit in an 18x24 space. Is your cnc mill in your house? My 735 is on a low stand like yours, and end up suing it as an outfeed support for my TS.
-Rob

Thanks Rob

Yes, the CNC mill and the other relatively "clean" stuff (my metal lathe and my model railroading workbench) are all located in the utility room in my house. Due to the renovation work, though, so is a TON of other stuff, so I can't really get to them at the moment :p

You have to make a lot of compromises working in a small shop like that, and it can be frustrating at times. It is certainly doable, though. One compromise, I've made: several of the larger kitchen cabinets I built I have assembled and glued up inside the house. I also end up doing most finishing either on the covered deck when the weather is nice, or (if I have no other choice and I'm doing the water-based stuff) inside the house.

Pete

Corey Hallagan

04-04-2007, 10:35 PM

Pete, I love your shop. I would love to have a dedicated space like that... yes its small but I think it is great. I couldn't see what you have for a table saw? I love the out the back opering for rips and the Incra fence. It would also be nice to have plywood on the walls like that. Nice little shop! You could easily build on to this shop one day! If anything if you ever build a bigger shop this would make a nice storage area or finish room or both.

Corey

P.S. how long you been a model railroader? Once a MRR always one! I have built several HO and N guage RR's over that last 25 years. MY Nauge lost out to a baby daughter 10 years ago and I haven't built one since then.

Pete Brown

04-04-2007, 10:41 PM

Pete, I love your shop. I would love to have a dedicated space like that... yes its small but I think it is great. I couldn't see what you have for a table saw? I love the out the back opering for rips and the Incra fence. Nice little shop! You could easily build on to this shop one day!

Corey

Thanks Corey

My table saw is a real mash of bits and pieces. Here's my page (http://www.irritatedvowel.com/HomeImprovement/FrankenSaw.aspx) (never did finish it) on the saw. Basically it's an american made delta contractor's saw with a 2HP Baldor motor, new pulley, new wings, and a different fence. A cabinet saw would be even better, but I actually plan to save for a European slider instead. Of course, that will need more room, so a larger workshop needs to come first.

My hope/intent is to either build a much larger building in place of the shop or build a detached garage in front of the house. Access to the space behind my house is not possible with any equipment, and is over soft ground, so that will make building something large a real project. Building out back also messes up a great view of nothing but woods for as far as you can see. I'd hate to do that.

Building in front of my house means I would have to deal with either a significant fill project (my house is basically abutting a ravine) or find another way to support it. I'm leaning towards the garage both for value and for the ease of getting materials and tools in and out. Carrying sheet goods all the way around the back of my house is getting old! :)

Pete

Von Bickley

04-04-2007, 10:42 PM

Pete,

Like I've said before, "A small shop is better than no shop".

Looks like you are getting a lot of use out of yours. Thanks for sharing your pictures with us....:) :) :)

"Jason Belous"

04-04-2007, 10:48 PM

now that is what you call 10lbs of sugar in a 5lb. sack.
very nice tools and well use of such a small space. This is ment as a compliment.

Anthony Anderson

04-04-2007, 10:55 PM

"Jason Belous"

04-04-2007, 10:58 PM

Pete I just though about a piece of advice that you may wan't to consider. When I was working in a small shop 16'x40'. I had built some very low profile cabinets with sliding doors roughly 12"tallx12"deepx36"wide and hung them from my the rafters. This allowed me to store all of my things such as sandpapers, hand tools, saw blades, jigs, etc. etc. etc. up off of the floor and not only did it look decent but it also freed up all of the floor space that otherwise got cluttered by non stationary tools. These cabinets also allowed me to run all my ducting on the backside of the cab. boxes. This may be an option to play with. But none the less nice set up. This also frees up wall space for say some lumber racks.

Pete Brown

04-04-2007, 11:02 PM

Pete, Thanks for the shop tour. I am really impressed at how you have fit everything into your shop. You have top quality tools IMO. I wish I would have done the same when I first started, but money was much tighter and I had no one to ask for advice-and the internet was just getting started. You seem to be doing it right. Congratulations on a well planned space. Regards, Bill

Thanks Bill. After replacing a few tools with better ones, I decided I was only going to get the best I could reasonably afford. My father and FIL are the lucky recipients of the old tools (circular saw, small craftsman table saw, and some other things) :) I get very frustrated dealing with inferior tools because I just don't have the time to work around their shortcomings. My shop time is very limited, and I like to enjoy the time I do get.

My friends at work give me a hard time about how much money I have tied up in that shed, but I've kept a very modest house, usually bring my lunch to work, and don't smoke/drink, don't drive a bmw etc, so it lets me save for things like this, as well as allow my wife to stay at home and raise our child.

Luckily, I've gotten my wife on board with the "buy quality" idea. She wasn't into that at all for a long time. I still have to do significant justification, but I no longer have to explain why tool x is better for me than the knockoff over at Harbor freight :)

Pete

Pete Brown

04-04-2007, 11:04 PM

Corey Hallagan

04-04-2007, 11:46 PM

Pete, your saw is basically the predecessor to my table saw which is now made in China and sold as Delta Industrial. With that Baldor it should run forever!

Corey

Jim Becker

04-04-2007, 11:51 PM

Thanks for the tour, Pete! There's some great innovation there...such as your Incra fence/wall accomodation...neat!

Dan Drager

04-05-2007, 12:33 AM

I've seem the work you post here on the creek Pete. And it is all the more impressive knowing you made all that beautiful stuff with your elbows tucked at your sides.

Scot Ferraro

04-05-2007, 1:01 AM

Great use of space -- I would love to have a small area where I could leave everything set up (my shop is in the garage that shares the cars). It just goes to show you that if you think about tool placement and organiziation you can work in small spaces. You do not need to have hundreds of square feet to do quality work -- you have done a great job from what I can tell. Thanks for sharing your set-up -- this gives me some ideas I might be able to incorporate in my own shop...err garage.

BTW -- where do you keep your jointer?

Scot

Seth Poorman

04-05-2007, 1:42 AM

Hey Pete thanks for the tour,you have a nice shop,and you have made good use to the square footage,your location is vary nice and your in the woods.
Nice looking location. When I bought my house in the country most all the ground was farmland so I planted Hundreds of Pine trees and etc, now when I look out my shop windows I see mostly trees !:) It took them 14 years to get that way..:(

Tyler Howell

04-05-2007, 7:01 AM

Thanks Pete.
With my wide load,I'd be knocking stuff on the floor all the time:o

Pete Brown

04-05-2007, 7:04 AM

Thanks Everyone :)

Scot, the jointer is at the end of the shop with the doors. If you look at the very first photo with the Dust Gorilla the jointer is under the tool cover just to the left. It is on a mobile base and is positioned so I can easily wheel it towards the door for the extra outfeed space.

Pete

Don Bullock

04-05-2007, 7:08 AM

Pete, thanks for the tour. You sure do have a lot packed into a small space. It sure looks like you're enjoying making sawdust.

Gary Ratajczak

04-05-2007, 8:27 AM

Thanks for the tour!!! Great tools, and use of a small space.

I'm in a basement shop (corner of), so I know how hard it is to make things work. I'm trying to figure out a good hanging cabinet configuration myself.

I know I'll be running the angled strip across the top, with the reverse angles on the cabinets. That will let me build clamp racks, cabinets or shelves that will only need to be lifted off to re-position.

Love the fence trap door - it would be tough for me to come out the side of the foundation :D Just picked up one of the Uni-Fences that were on Lowes clearance - have not yet installed.

You are lucky in that even though the space is small, you have some height. The Dust Gorilla looks like it fits nicely - I don't have that much ceiling height. It's going to be a while until I can add onto the back of the garage :(

Dust Gorilla Question - I have been reading up on the unit, and it seems a concern if you don't have enough pipe run. To little resistance can cause to large an amp draw on the motor. Which system do you have 2 or 3 hp??

Thanks
Gary Ratajczak

Greg Cole

04-05-2007, 8:33 AM

Pete,
Nice set up, good use of what you have. Nice collection of toys too.
How do you like the Excalibur? I've been looking into adding one of these or the Shark to my saw since adding the DC.
Not sure about you, but the INCRA stuff was one of my better purchases along with the DC.
I had intentions of converting the shed in my back yard to a small shop when we bought the house... but I managed to start taking over the garage without any resistance from LOML. Now I am whining about the 2 car garage being too small and wanting the shop detached. :rolleyes:
LOML did make a wise-crack to me the other day about maybe leaving the lights on in the "apartment" (what she calls the shop, 'cause some days I seem to live there).... she said maybe the tools will stop multiplying that way. Maybe I should leave the lights off for a few days or a week and see what happens!

Jon Shively

04-05-2007, 8:36 AM

Thanks for the tour. Very nice equipment, nice use of space. Definitely shows, "where there is a will, there is a way"!! Good job.

Kevin Scott

04-05-2007, 9:26 AM

BTW, one other problem with the lack of storage is how any flat surface (top of planer, table of mortiser) that doesn't see use for a day or so suddenly seems to collect a ton of debris :)

Thanks for the tour - the shop looks great. My storage situation is very similar to yours (...lacking :)). My shop is in our unfinished basement. I am planning on finishing the basement later this year, and decided to wait on building cabinets / storage solutions until it's completed. As a result, all of my flat surfaces collect "clutter" also.

Pete Brown

04-05-2007, 10:09 AM

Dust Gorilla Question - I have been reading up on the unit, and it seems a concern if you don't have enough pipe run. To little resistance can cause to large an amp draw on the motor. Which system do you have 2 or 3 hp??

Hi Gary

I have the 2hp version with the Baldor motor. I suspect I have plenty of resistance as those "temporary" flex hoses are long enough to reach around the shop. The motor gets warm, but I haven't ever seen anything that would cause alarm.

I've heard about the lack of resistance (here), but I have no idea how to measure that or even tell if it is a problem. Ideas appreciated :)

Pete

PS, I actually ended up with even more height than planned for the gorilla. I currently have the bin on a rolling platform that sits about 5-6 inches off the ground.

Don Bullock

04-05-2007, 10:09 AM

Thanks for the tour - the shop looks great. My storage situation is very similar to yours (...lacking :)). My shop is in our unfinished basement. I am planning on finishing the basement later this year, and decided to wait on building cabinets / storage solutions until it's completed. As a result, all of my flat surfaces collect "clutter" also.

I'm thinking of doing the same in my garage shop, but have been trying to improve my storage problems where I can. It's amazing how quickly "debris" can stack up without sufficent storage.:eek:

Pete Brown

04-05-2007, 10:17 AM

Not sure about you, but the INCRA stuff was one of my better purchases along with the DC.

I love the incra, but I have to admit that I hate switching back and forth between the saw and the router fence. If I manage to build a larger shop at some point, my router table will be separate so I don't need to tear down setups to make a correction or duplicate a piece. FWIW, that is one thing that has made me lean away from ever getting a combo unit, as I really do better with separate machines.

On the Excalibur: I have mixed feelings on it. I like the idea of it, but the execution lacks in some ways.

For example, the blade guard is just way too wide for what it does, even if you use a dado head. It's in the way for narrow rips, and makes it so I can't use board buddies for anything but the widest rips. I think they set the width based on the DC hose, instead of having the DC hose taper to an oblong shape or something.

The chromed steel "lift" on the front attaches poorly to the blade guard and tends to work loose. It also doesn't do a great job lifting the guard because the angle is too steep. When it does lift up, it tends to lift up higher than necessary - affecting the DC. Finally, the dust collection is non-existent unless you have the guard physically touching the piece. When it is touching, DC is great. For that reason, I have considered putting bristles or some other type of soft but stiff edging around the bottom of the buard to keep a decent seal with the workpiece.

Bottom line: for the price, you may want to look around and, more importantly, try some others out.

LOML did make a wise-crack to me the other day about maybe leaving the lights on in the "apartment" (what she calls the shop, 'cause some days I seem to live there).... she said maybe the tools will stop multiplying that way. Maybe I should leave the lights off for a few days or a week and see what happens!

LOL! Tell her it's even worse if the tools can actually see each other ;)

Pete

Pete Brown

04-05-2007, 10:18 AM

I'm thinking of doing the same in my garage shop, but have been trying to improve my storage problems where I can. It's amazing how quickly "debris" can stack up without sufficent storage.:eek:

Yep. I spend a fair amount of time just shuffling things from one surface to another - hardly efficient.

Pete

Gary Ratajczak

04-05-2007, 10:44 AM

Peter:
harbor Freight sells a clamp on amp meter that will do the job. You need to read in AC Current, and clamp around 1 leg inside the breaker box.

I assume you are wired to 220 VAC - this would be a two pole breaker in the box - clamp around 1 of those wires.

The motor shows a number for full load amps. With your shortest run (least resistance) you take a current reading - it should not be higher than what the motor is rated for.

Motors also have a service factor - if its 1.0 for instance, you can't go above the rated current. If the SF is 1.15 for instance, you are safe up to 15% over the listed limit (in most cases).

The Baldor motors ar A+

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/gifs/clear.gif

Greg Cole

04-05-2007, 10:54 AM

Pete,
Thanks for the info on the Excalibur. That just fell off the look into list pretty much, so its Shark or homemade....
The switch from RT to TS on the INCRA has forced me to sharpen my pencil per say... that and I've gotten to be like a NASCAR pit crew switching over, but still a PITA. I tool will eventually seperate the TS & RT. But the INCRA & Jessem lift are MILES better than the BORG Bosch POS I tossed to a neighbor.
Your post about dominos and strong cope n stick joints b/c the 1 year old at home made me think of my little dude..... I have a pic somewhere of him hanging by a loop on some carpenter style shorts.... he was sliding off the couner and the loop got caught on the drawer pull. He was hanging there yelling for help, I JUST HAD TO GET A PIC...I laughed so hard for so long. I will post the pic if I can dig it up. Was 2 years ago and still gets a chuckle when I see the pics, he's just smiling away & waving at the camera.

Pete Brown

04-05-2007, 12:39 PM

Thanks Pete.
With my wide load,I'd be knocking stuff on the floor all the time:o

Oh, I've had a number of run-ins. I'm by no means skinny. However, I must have a fat head as that is what is always hitting things (like clamps!) :D

One day, after slicing my finger with a freshly sharpened chisel (ouch), hitting my head with the hard end of a Bessey, sucking a manual through the dust collector (hose fell off the planer and sucked up everything in its path) and getting myself pretty...annoyed, I called it a day. In a small shop like that, the only way to sit down and recollect yourself is to step outside :)

Pete

Pete Brown

04-05-2007, 12:41 PM

Pete,
Thanks for the info on the Excalibur. That just fell off the look into list pretty much, so its Shark or homemade....
The switch from RT to TS on the INCRA has forced me to sharpen my pencil per say... that and I've gotten to be like a NASCAR pit crew switching over, but still a PITA. I tool will eventually seperate the TS & RT. But the INCRA & Jessem lift are MILES better than the BORG Bosch POS I tossed to a neighbor.

Greg, I encourage you to look at it yourself. You may like it. Some tools you really need to play with before you decide if it is for you; this is one of them.

Your post about dominos and strong cope n stick joints b/c the 1 year old at home made me think of my little dude..... I have a pic somewhere of him hanging by a loop on some carpenter style shorts.... he was sliding off the couner and the loop got caught on the drawer pull. He was hanging there yelling for help, I JUST HAD TO GET A PIC...I laughed so hard for so long. I will post the pic if I can dig it up. Was 2 years ago and still gets a chuckle when I see the pics, he's just smiling away & waving at the camera.

Definitely post the photo :)

Pete